Obama's latest crop of ambassadors, clueless like the boss

Barack Obama has never shown any great respect for ambassadors, a president's hand-picked representative to another country.

You'll remember how shook up this president was over the 2012 murders of Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi; Obama flew off to Las Vegas fundraisers before the bodies were even cold.

But two of Obama's recent ambassadorial choices reveal the Democrat's uber-political modus operandi and stunning disdain for the position: Max Baucus and George Tsunis.

Take Baucus. Please. The 72-year-old, six-term senator is on his way to China. Baucus now is more famous for telling Kathleen Sebelius he saw "a huge train wreck coming" in ObamaCare's implementation. A sign of Baucus' deft footwork since, truth be told, as Finance Committee chair, he was a major architect of the very debacle he was predicting as his 2014 reelection loomed.

Good job, Max.

However, Baucus wisely decided to retire. In a wily political move that probably won't work, Obama got Baucus to leave the Senate early, allowing Montana's Democrat governor to appoint another Democrat as interim senator to gain some name recognition before Nov. 4.

You may recall a previous Obama political choice for the Beijing post was Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman. That was another political move designed to sideline the popular Huntsman as a competitor for the GOP presidential nomination. It sorta worked; Huntsman fizzled out like wet fireworks. But at least that ambassador spoke fluent Mandarin.

One of the few smart things Jimmy Carter did was name another retiring Montana Democrat senator, Mike Mansfield, as ambassador to Japan. He was so good that Ronald Reagan kept him on for both terms. And Mansfield knew Asia.

Baucus' qualifications to be ambassador to China are that he attended Stanford. Which is to say, he has no qualifications.

In fact, during his confirmation hearing the other day Baucus admitted as much. "I'm no real expert on China," he declared to the panel.

Baucus was just being Montana humble, according to a worried aide trying to fuzz the gaffe. That aide obviously never heard hometown speeches by Baucus, a Democrat disciple of the Al Gore School of Political Modesty.

In his ground-breaking testimony, Baucus vowed to be "fair but firm" in a "constructive conversation" with America's largest creditor. In other words, he needs to be an attentive listener.

Which reminded us of the Defense Secretary confirmation admission by Chuck Hagel, another former senator and Obama appointee. In Hagel's stumbling, ill-informed testimony, he confessed he was not really an expert on national defense and wouldn't be much of a decision-maker.

Barack Obama has never shown any great respect for ambassadors, a president's hand-picked representative to another country.

You'll remember how shook up this president was over the 2012 murders of Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi; Obama flew off to Las Vegas fundraisers before the bodies were even cold.

But two of Obama's recent ambassadorial choices reveal the Democrat's uber-political modus operandi and stunning disdain for the position: Max Baucus and George Tsunis.

Take Baucus. Please. The 72-year-old, six-term senator is on his way to China. Baucus now is more famous for telling Kathleen Sebelius he saw "a huge train wreck coming" in ObamaCare's implementation. A sign of Baucus' deft footwork since, truth be told, as Finance Committee chair, he was a major architect of the very debacle he was predicting as his 2014 reelection loomed.

Good job, Max.

However, Baucus wisely decided to retire. In a wily political move that probably won't work, Obama got Baucus to leave the Senate early, allowing Montana's Democrat governor to appoint another Democrat as interim senator to gain some name recognition before Nov. 4.

You may recall a previous Obama political choice for the Beijing post was Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman. That was another political move designed to sideline the popular Huntsman as a competitor for the GOP presidential nomination. It sorta worked; Huntsman fizzled out like wet fireworks. But at least that ambassador spoke fluent Mandarin.

One of the few smart things Jimmy Carter did was name another retiring Montana Democrat senator, Mike Mansfield, as ambassador to Japan. He was so good that Ronald Reagan kept him on for both terms. And Mansfield knew Asia.

Baucus' qualifications to be ambassador to China are that he attended Stanford. Which is to say, he has no qualifications.

In fact, during his confirmation hearing the other day Baucus admitted as much. "I'm no real expert on China," he declared to the panel.

Baucus was just being Montana humble, according to a worried aide trying to fuzz the gaffe. That aide obviously never heard hometown speeches by Baucus, a Democrat disciple of the Al Gore School of Political Modesty.

In his ground-breaking testimony, Baucus vowed to be "fair but firm" in a "constructive conversation" with America's largest creditor. In other words, he needs to be an attentive listener.

Which reminded us of the Defense Secretary confirmation admission by Chuck Hagel, another former senator and Obama appointee. In Hagel's stumbling, ill-informed testimony, he confessed he was not really an expert on national defense and wouldn't be much of a decision-maker.

C-SPAN

Because the president himself frequently claims total ignorance of his own administration's scandals and misdeeds. And after all, under Obama what's to decide about the country's national security now that Osama bin Laden is still dead?

Where does Obama find these schlumps?

Speaking of schlump, Obama's nominee as next U.S. ambassador to Norway is George Tsunis. He's a New York businessman best-known as a big supporter of GOP Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Until the Arizonan lost. At which time Tsunis became an even bigger bundler for Obama.

Political pals are not unheard of as U.S. ambassadors. It's a common reward for fundraising loyalty that costs only American taxpayers, not the president.

However, most of these folks at least feign some knowledge of their embassy's host country.

During his testimony Tsunis referred to the president of Norway, which has none. And he was unaware of the political parties, simple stuff he could have learned from Wikipedia, for Olaf's sakes.

Of course, as you'd expect in our malfunctioning national capitol, these dunces and other dim Obama appointees like them have no worries about confirmation--unless Republicans win at least six more Senate seats on Nov. 4. Democrat Majority Leader for Now Harry Reid has ensured such confirmations with his anti-filibuster nuclear option, requiring only a simple majority.

Having pointed out the witnesses' glaring ignorance with some pointed questions, McCain seemed to recognize as much with his sarcastic acceptance. “I have," he said, "no more questions for this incredibly highly-qualified group of nominees.”

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